History

The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art
was set up by Roger Coleman and Jeremy Myerson in January 1999 with a
purpose to explore the design implications of social and demographic
change.

Inclusive GownPhotographer: Marc BrousselyThe centre built on an earlier partnership between the Helen Hamlyn Trust and the Royal College of Art – the DesignAge action research unit, which was active at the RCA between 1991 and 1998 under the direction of Roger Coleman.

The
purpose of DesignAge was to alert industry and the design profession to
the far-reaching implications of rapidly ageing populations across the
developed world.

DesignAge was successful in mobilising a
generation of young designers behind an age-aware approach to design,
via a stream of conferences, seminars, workshops, publications,
competitions, design exemplars and the establishment of an international
Design for Ageing Network (DAN) and a Special Collection of research papers in the Royal College of Art Library.

In addition, DesignAge participated in the European Union-funded Presence project, which explored the use of new technologies to raise the profile of older people in their communities.

DesignAge was recognised nationally, with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 1995, and internationally, with a Ron Mace Memorial award.

Many
of its key activities were extended under the aegis of the Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre, which was established in 1999 with core funding from
the Helen Hamlyn Foundation, now the Helen Hamlyn Trust.

Whereas
DesignAge was a single-issue action research unit focusing on the needs
of older people, the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design has a broader
perspective based on advancing the concept of inclusive design - an
approach to designing that includes the whole population - all ages and
all abilities.

It has also augmented a focus on inclusive design
for ageing populations with expertise in working life and healthcare design.

"The Centre is one of the research jewels in the RCA's crown, a well-established player in inclusive and interdisciplinary design research dedicated to improving the lives of all generations."Dr Paul Thompson